Snakes on the loose at Chinese university

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The snakes let loose on campus were later verified as non-venomous.

Story highlights

Dozens of snakes let loose on Chinese university campus

Animal control experts capture 40 live snakes, 60 dead ones

Expert says snakes are not poisonous and suspects they were released deliberately

Students at a university in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou were given a scare last week, after dozens of snakes invaded the campus.

The Guangzhou Daily reported Monday that animal control experts had caught around 40 live snakes on Saturday after a number of the reptiles were spotted writhing along a road in Guangzhou University City.

Around 60 snakes were also found dead, most squashed by traffic.

"On the way to the library I saw a green snake lying on the road in the sun, about 50 cm long," the newspaper quoted one student as writing on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

A student from South China Normal University, one of a number of institutions with colleges on the island campus, told her friends to be careful after finding about 60 snakes -- some run over by cars and other lurking in the grass.